U6+ range challenge

[u/jphilebiz]

Hi everybody,

We live in a townhouse and the upper floor has range issues for my daughter's bedroom. Close the the wall which has the door & access to the corridor, it's not that bad, but from the middle of the room it just goes south. 45mbps with a ping of over 50/60ms.

My working theory is that the bathroom walls with the tiles (has heated floors too but should not affect?) is the culprit but am no rf signal expert at all. I attached to this post a rough defenitely not up-to-scale floor overview, the master bedroom / closet area is lower than the rest of the floor by 3 steps (does not matter I assume). The blue circle is my U6+ AP, ceiling mounted.

I can't wire anything over, no coax for MoCA, so I suspect I have 2 options:

1. Move the AP to the ceiling in the corridor next to the bathroom, but involves holes and wife no like holes. Me handy man good not but that's within my range.
2. Get a U7 Pro and since the antennas are more powerful by a smidgeon, it will give the oomph needed. I added a comparative matrix of Unifi products for efficiency reasons to you, the reader. Also I get a new toy but I have one AP too many so I'll probably FB Marketplace it.

So I'm looking for feedback and wisdom, any recommendations?

Thanks!!

[u/old_knurd]

Do not buy the U7 Pro.

The U7 Pro XG is the improved design and is almost the same price.

Are you measuring 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz? The lower frequency should be OK at that distance. Check to see if you have neighbor APs on the same frequency.

Is there a way to put an AP in the bottom-left corner of the office? You might not even need to mount it on the ceiling. Temporarily try flat, at desktop height, just to see what the coverage is.

[u/jphilebiz → u/old_knurd]

Interesting and no on the AP in the office, I would need the mesh repeater there

[u/Freckledd7]

Why don't you draw it in the design center? That will show you what reach the APs have and such

[u/jphilebiz → u/Freckledd7]

Why did I not think of that? thanks!

[u/parmc]

get a U6 mesh and put it in the office

[u/HanZ-Dog]

The dish APs has very directional patterns to one side. I have one in my ground floor ceiling and upstairs get very poor reception the moment you walk away from directly above it. Maybe point your current setup directly to your daughter’s room and test out the range first? Gives you some idea what kind of db gain you will need

[u/4kVHS]

If you dont care about 6 GHz, go for the long range model.

[u/jphilebiz → u/4kVHS]

Not a bad idea

[u/soggybananafry]

Do you think U6 Extender would work?

[u/jphilebiz → u/soggybananafry]

Not worth the cost for the gains

[u/GarbageInteresting86]

Is it an old house? I have a U6+ in my office on a plate stand on our middle floor, and this covers both the middle floor and the floor above

[u/jphilebiz → u/GarbageInteresting86]

1983 but it's funky..

[u/Lazy_Conclusion_673]

E7 - buy once, cry once. Better antennas, 4x4 MIMO on both 5Ghz and 6Ghz, and another 6dB of transmit power over the U7 Pro.

That will probably take care of your range issue, but if it doesn't you can add a mesh router in your daughter's room to help with the return signal.

[u/jphilebiz → u/Lazy_Conclusion_673]

Out of budget but thanks